'Cats Day Out' Gives Louisville Eighth Graders Inside View of UK

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 7, 2011) –Carlos Ntchou is only in the eighth grade, but he already knows what he wants to do for a living. "I want to go into computer programming," Ntchou said.

Ntchou is one of close to 40 students from Louisville's Olmstead Academy North who are being encouraged to think about their future careers and how college can help them reach those goals by visiting the University of Kentucky's "Cats Day Out" program Tuesday, Nov. 1.

The UK Office of Undergraduate Admission, along with the First Scholars Program hosted the students as part of College Day Out, an initiative sponsored by the Jefferson County Public Schools and Greater Louisville Inc. Each fall and spring, students visit various colleges and universities.  The idea is to allow students with parents who did not attend college to experience campuses in the area.

"This is an eye opening experience for many of them," said Durk Davidson, Youth Service Center coordinator at Olmstead Academy North. "Many of them have not ever set foot on a college campus, but now they'll go home and tell their families, 'I want to go to college.'"

This is UK's first year participating in the program.  Officials say it just seemed like a natural fit with the university's goals.

"It is important for UK to reach out to all students very early to demonstrate the importance of an education," said Don Witt, vice provost for enrollment management.  "The sooner we can connect with students the sooner they, too, can think about their future and how to start thinking about goals, where they want to go in life, and how to get there."

Current UK students in the First Scholars program which is for first-generation college students, led the eighth graders around campus.

"To have this tour led by other first-generation college students tells our students, 'If they can do it, so can we,'" Davidson said.

Students kept a busy schedule while touring campus, starting at the W.T. Young Library and walking across South Campus to visit actual laboratories in the Biomedical/Biological Sciences Research and Thomas Hunt Morgan Biological Sciences buildings. 

UK graduate students explained why they're using zebrafish in their research while other UK faculty showed off their advanced robots.

Next up was a trip through the state-of-the-art Biological-Pharmaceutical Building to view the classrooms, labs, and mock patient rooms that UK students use everyday.

"It's cool," said Ntchou as he walked through the high-tech College of Pharmacy classrooms, "I've never seen this part of college before."

The tour didn’t just focus on academics, though, as students walked across campus to get a first-hand look at residence hall life in the newly renovated Keeneland Hall.

The final stop included a tour through the Joe Craft Center and Memorial Coliseum, where students walked through the UK Basketball player's training room and UK Hoops practice court.

The idea, according to First Scholars Director Matthew Deffendall, is to show students a well-rounded view of campus life.

"We want to show them the academic side of college life by taking them through the library, labs, and classrooms," Deffendall said.   "But we also want them to see what campus life as a whole is all about, complete with living in residence halls, attending athletic events, and even eating in the Student Center."

While it may seem early for middle school students to visit campus, school officials say it's important for them to get excited about the possibility of attending college.

"This visit gives them a taste of what college is like," Davidson said.  "The next step is making them understand they have to think about it now, so they can know what it takes to get into college a few years from now."

UK officials say getting this message across is part of the university's mission.

"Our goal is to explain the importance of taking challenging classes, being leaders in their schools, and building for successful futures," Witt said.

It's a path Carlos and his fellow classmates hope to follow, no matter what careers they pursue.

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